In his first regular-season action since 2021-22, Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog\u00a0made a major impact on his team. In the 60 games that he played\u00a0in 2025-26, Colorado went\u00a045-7-8, as opposed to the Avs\u2019 10-9-3 record in games that he missed.\u00a0Individually, Landeskog posted 35 points (14g\/21a), finishing tied for eighth on the Avs in scoring while registering 16:25 of time on ice per game.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Landeskog\u2019s return to hockey after missing\u00a0nearly three\u00a0full seasons has been well-documented. But what do other leaders around the NHL think about his incredible journey\u00a0through the\u00a0lense\u00a0of a player wearing a letter on their jersey?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Throughout the season, ColoradoAvalanche.com spoke with\u00a0Adam Foote, John Tavares, Auston Matthews, Anders Lee, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane to hear their thoughts\u00a0about Landeskog\u2019s return to the lineup.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some of the takeaways from\u00a0the people listed above was that they are happy for Landeskog to\u00a0be\u00a0back,\u00a0his recovery shows how great of a leader he is and the mental fortitude it took for him to return.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Adam Foote\u00a0\u2013 Vancouver Canucks\u00a0Head Coach, Avalanche Captain (2009-2011)<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m\u00a0just glad\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0back.\u00a0He\u2019s\u00a0one of the best humans. A great captain. I think\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0an important piece with such\u00a0great players\u00a0on this team. Just his presence and the way he carries himself as a person is what a group this talented\u00a0probably needs.\u00a0A real mature\u00a0guy, and it shows his resilience and character.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0happy for him as a person, right?\u00a0He\u2019s\u00a0such a good guy. But I think\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0big for Colorado having him in that locker room.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
John Tavares \u2013 Toronto Maple Leafs Forward, Maple Leafs Captain (2019-2024), New York Islanders Captain (2013-18), Maple Leafs Alternate Captain (2024-Present)<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s\u00a0obviously an incredible leader.\u00a0I think he\u00a0was given\u00a0the captaincy\u00a0at 19, so he was a teenager. And obviously the player that he is, and the kind of journey\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0been here in Colorado, and then winning a cup a few years ago, and obviously been a perennial cup contender for the last number of years, and again this year. And then to go through some of the physical issues, which put a lot of things in question for him, which I can\u2019t imagine the difficulties of that, especially when you feel like you\u2019re probably in the prime of your career and you had so much hockey ahead of you, and you got to manage that and sort through that, along with the team, and not playing and being disconnected that way. So, obviously a lot of credit to him, the mental fortitude, the work\u00a0ethic\u00a0and drive to get back and to play. And I think\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0obvious the impact that he makes, just looking from the outside as the leader that he is.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Auston Matthews\u00a0\u2013 Toronto Maple\u00a0Leafs\u00a0Captain (2024-Present)<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0been great to see him back. I\u2019m sure the road and everything like that, all the work that he put in to getting\u00a0himself to be back in this position was a long road, so he\u2019s obviously a big part of this team\u00a0and has been a great player in this league for a long time and a great leader and captain of this team for a long time.\u00a0So\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0been great to see him back and see him healthy…\u00a0But I\u00a0think\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0been great, just that whole story and the timeline to get\u00a0back,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0pretty incredible.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Anders Lee \u2013 Islanders Captain (2018-Present)<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Landy\u2019s proven over the years just the character that he has…\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0obvious that he plays the game the right way.\u00a0He\u00a0always seems to be\u00a0doing the right things. This is me from afar, looking in and seeing what he\u2019s been able to do, and then he goes through the injury that he had and the fortitude that I think it took for him to get himself healthy while being away from his own team, I can\u2019t imagine how tough that was.\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0been in a similar spot, but not to the extent that he was. And I think\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0just an incredible thing, and I think\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0awesome. And\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0what a good leader does. He gets himself in his best position for himself and does everything he can for the team.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jonathan Toews\u00a0—\u00a0Winnipeg Jets Forward, Chicago Blackhawks Captain (2008-2023)<\/p>\n
\u201cI think from a distance–I\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0know him very well–but\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0obviously a captain for a reason.\u00a0I think he\u2019s definitely got that warrior mentality.\u00a0Aside from what he produces\u00a0point-wise, goals-wise,\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0one of those guys that obviously makes\u00a0a huge difference\u00a0on and off the ice in that locker room.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0hard to win a Stanley Cup without a leader like that. I think at the end of the day, as a fan of the game, and when you respect a certain player, and you see an injury like what he went through, just obviously wish him the very best and\u00a0hope\u00a0he\u00a0heals\u00a0and he gets to play the game as long as he can or wants. And,\u00a0yeah, a ton of respect for what\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0been through.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Question: Can Landeskog be an inspiration to other guys going through injury?<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah. I can attest, being away from the game\u00a0as long as\u00a0I was, too. It takes a while to not only get back up to speed, but obviously the young players that are working so hard.\u00a0They\u2019re\u00a0working on their games.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0[the]\u00a0skills\u00a0and abilities that they\u00a0have,\u00a0everything is so precise nowadays, so you\u00a0gotta\u00a0work twice as hard just to catch up and adapt to the game.\u00a0So\u00a0for him, as long as he was away,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0not easy.\u00a0I think for myself, obviously there were days where it\u2019s really not going your way and that doubt creeps in. You\u2019re like, is\u00a0this ever\u00a0going to be possible?\u00a0Or is this even worthwhile? Something worth pursuing? And you just got to stay with the process. Whether\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0at the top of your game or not. You got to love the game for what it is. Obviously, even when\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0at your best, there\u2019s days where things\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0go your way, and you just stick with it.\u00a0I think you\u00a0learn that as a human being, and I think\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0something\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0going to take with me when\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0done playing as well.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Patrick Kane \u2013 Detroit Red Wings Forward, Blackhawks Alternate Captain (2015-2023) & Red Wings Alternate Captain (2024-25)<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s great. The drive and determination to keep grinding, keep trying to find ways to excite yourself to stay with it and come back. And I think he epitomizes just never giving up, right? To be out for that long, few years, and come back in the playoffs. And now he\u2019s playing [and is a] full-time player. It\u2019s really a testament to his drive and his attitude to the love of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In his first regular-season action since 2021-22, Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog\u00a0made a major impact on his team. In…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555002,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5116],"tags":[193,192,144,5277,5,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-555001","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-colorado-avalanche","8":"tag-avalanche","9":"tag-colorado","10":"tag-colorado-avalanche","11":"tag-coloradoavalanche","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116423753173246974","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}